NY Fashion Week Coup: First Lady Laura Bush's Approval (supporting Niece Lauren on the runway)

NY Times ^ | 2.5.05 | Eric Wilson

[gopwinsin04]

Laura Bush became the first 'first lady' to attend New York's Fashion Week yesterday, in an occasion that was greeted in some circles with the same sense of importance as when Christian Dior unveiled the 'New Look.'

Celebrities may be commonplace during the 150 designer shows that will take place in the city during Fashion Week, but it took a sitting first lady in the front row of the tents at Bryant Park to make the fashion audience pay attention.

The front row was uncommonly filled with top designers, including Tommy Hilfiger, Francesco Costa of Calvin Klein, Nicole Miller, Luca Orlandi, Esteban Cortazar, and Carmen Marc Valvo.

Only a year ago, only two designers attended a similar event. Carolina Herrera, who designed the burgandy velvet jacket that Mrs. Bush wore to the event, and Oscar de la Renta, who dressed her for the Inaugural, accompanied her to the show of red dresses for the Heart Truth, a fund raiser focusing on heart disease prevention.

That Mrs. Bush has now embraced the industry delighted the designers, who were in the harried throes of completing their own collections.

'I like fashion, it's fun.' Mrs. Bush said after the show, which included 26 dresses by 26 celebrities of varying fame , from Paula Abdul to Sarah Ferguson.

Mrs. Bush applauded each look as it passed by and told those seated near her that she need to acquire more red outfits.

[gopwinsin04]

Looked like quite the party!

[srm913]

You go, girl!

[jocon307]

I love Laura, I love how she's never over awed by things. And she should wear more red, absolutely. I love Caroline Herrerra's stuff, she's really my favorite.

[maggief]

Lauren Bush, niece of President George W. Bush (news - web sites), models a dress by Tommmy Hilfiger as she walks the runway in the Red Dress Collection 2005 Show at New York's Fashion Week, February 4, 2005. Bush and 25 other high-profile women modeled red dresses by famous designers in support of The Heart Truth, a heart-disease awareness campaign. REUTERS/Jeff Zelevansky

[stopem]

I love that Laura is supporting educating women about heart disease.

[gopwinsin04]

[My Favorite Headache]

The Bush kids are just HOT. Period. When you compare them to Democratic kids like Kerry's,Carter's,and Clinton's (well Webster's at least), the Bush family buries them all in good looks.

[GMMAC]

As all on FreeRepublic just love to see conservatives pandering to political correctness, here's the related reality check:

MEN FEELING BLUE ON FEBRUARY THE FOURTH

Carey Roberts

Two national health organizations are teaming up in an Orwellian effort to pander to women and mislead the American public about the threat of heart disease.

First, for those of us who care about such things, the facts. According to the latest government report, men die an average of 5.4 years before women.

The main reason for that disparity in life expectancy is heart disease. Heart disease is the number one killer of men and women alike.

But men’s risk of dying from heart disease is far greater than women’s – about 50% higher. These are the actual numbers from the recent report, Health, United States, 2004: The adjusted heart disease death rates in 2002 were 297 per 100,000 persons for men and 197 for women [www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus.htm].

Those figures actually understate the extent of the problem, because when men die of heart disease, they are typically in their 40s and 50s, whereas women usually die of heart disease at a later age.

This means that when women die from this condition, their kids are out on their own. But men stricken by heart disease are still the main breadwinners for the family, working overtime to pay off the mortgage and driving the kids to soccer practice. His untimely death is a medical and financial disaster for the wife and kids.

Public health experts have a way of gauging that age effect – it’s called “Years of potential life lost.” So in 2002, the number of potential years lost due to heart disease was 1,707 for men, and only 749 for women. That’s more than a two-fold difference.

But we live in an Alice-in-Wonderland world where the wishes of women necessarily trump the medical necessities of men. Thus, we are told that we should be more concerned about women, not men, who are risk of heart disease.

So get ready for National Wear Red Day on Friday, February 4. The American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health are urging women to wear red that day, using the predictable feminist jargon, in order to “share the power.”

But this event is not limited to one day – it’s a full-fledged campaign. All across the country, local chapters of the American Heart Association will be celebrating every manner of activity, including Woman-to-Woman conferences, Wear Red Day, and Go Red for Women luncheons [www.heart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3017091].

Ironically, these AHA events are all co-sponsored by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, the folks who make millions of dollars selling Viagra to men.

Orwellians always try to cover their tracks by invoking the notion of “truth.” The Wear Red Day campaign is no exception to that rule.

Go to the National Institutes of Health website, and there you will see how the decidely one-sided “truth” will be presented at a series of Heart “Truth” Events [www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/hearttruth/index.htm]. These events include an Olympus Fashion Week, Single City Community Events, outreach to health professionals, and the Heart Truth Road Show.

How do upstanding organizations like the American Heart Association and National Institutes of Health justify the embarrassing neglect of men’s hearts?

Here’s what Dr. Augustus Grant, president of the American Heart Association, had to say: “Heart disease kills more American women than any other disease, yet surveys show that when you ask women to name their No. 1 health threat, less than half answer correctly.”

But the AHA didn’t even bother to survey men. Sometimes you almost have to feel sorry for those afflicted by political correctness, persons who are so easily taken in by their pat answers and delusions of gender enlightenment.

Propaganda campaigns always have their share of sweet ironies. And here, the Heart Truth website talks about women celebrating the impending Valentine’s Day.

But when those women open their husband’s gift of mouth-watering chocolates, how many will realize that they may well spend their Golden Years alone, ruing the fact that their husband’s life was cut short by heart disease?

And as they are lovingly handed that bunch of red roses, how many single girls know their boyfriend faces a 50% greater risk of dying of heart disease than they do?

On February the fourth, as these women admire the svelte models strolling down the runway at the Red Dress Collection Fashion Show, how many will appreciate the irony?

[Ole Okie]

Class! Absolute class.

[gopwinsin04]

[SuziQ]

told those seated near her that she need to acquire more red outfits.

She's right! She wears red very well.

[gopwinsin04]

Christie Brinkley looks like she hasn't aged a day...amazing!

[SilentServiceCPOWife]

And it's not just the girls that are good looking.

[SuziQ]

But we live in an Alice-in-Wonderland world where the wishes of women necessarily trump the medical necessities of men. Thus, we are told that we should be more concerned about women, not men, who are risk of heart disease.

Get a grip! It's a fashion show for heaven's sake!

Most women don't think about their own health; they're more concerned about the health of their husbands and children. They hold off going for checkups, sometimes, until it's too late. They have to almost BEAT their husbands to get to the doctor, but they are just as bad, sometimes.

I have no problem with the fashion industry using their PR machines to encourage women to take care of themselves. It is not saying that men should be ignored, just that women should be aware of the risks they have, as well.

[rlmorel]

Yes. She is quite lovely to look at...:)

[satchmodog9]

With the exception of Noelle I agree.

[gopwinsin04]

I think Laura probably always shied away from wearing red because it was Nancy Reagans trademark, how lucky we are to have such a First Lady!

[Socratic]

From the article:
Katie Couric and the model Heidi Klum staged a news conference at the tents that attracted more than 60 television crews and photographers to hear them talk about the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance. But mostly Ms. Couric chastised them for taking too many pictures and calling out names. "I'm not going to be nice to you any more if you don't stop yelling names," she said. "That's so rude."
..............................

I guess not all are so lovely as the First Lady.

[gjpino]

The black haired Kerry girl is pretty hot...the other one...

[LauraleeBraswell]

This is actually kind of funny,

But I know someone who voted for Bush because of Laura Bush and because she (this Democrat) could not STAND Teresa Heinz and the idea that Teresa could be a first lady.